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Frederick William IV of Prussia

May 02, 2023

Frederick William IV (German: Friedrich Wilhelm IV.; 15 October 1795[3] – 2 January 1861), the eldest son and successor of Frederick William III of Prussia, reigned as King of Prussia from 7 June 1840 to his death on 2 January 1861. Also referred to as the "romanticist on the throne", he is best remembered for the many buildings he had constructed in Berlin and Potsdam as well as for the completion of the Gothic Cologne Cathedral.

Frederick Wilhelm IV
Frederick Wilhelm IV in 1847
King of Prussia
Reign7 June 1840 – 2 January 1861
PredecessorFrederick William III
SuccessorWilliam I
RegentPrince William (1858–1861)
President of the Erfurt Union
Reign26 May 1849 – 29 November 1850
Born15 October 1795
Kronprinzenpalais, Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia
Died2 January 1861 (aged 65)
Sanssouci, Potsdam, Kingdom of Prussia
Burial
Crypt of the Friedenskirche, Sanssouci Park, Potsdam[1] (Heart in the Mausoleum at Charlottenburg Palace, Berlin)[2]
SpouseElisabeth Ludovika of Bavaria
HouseHohenzollern
FatherFrederick William III of Prussia
MotherLouise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
ReligionCalvinist (Prussian United)
Signature

In politics, he was a conservative, who initially pursued a moderate policy of easing press censorship and reconciling with the Catholic population of the kingdom. During the German revolutions of 1848–1849, he at first accommodated the revolutionaries but rejected the title of Emperor of the Germans offered by the Frankfurt Parliament in 1849, believing that Parliament did not have the right to make such an offer. He used military force to crush the revolutionaries throughout the German Confederation. From 1849 onward he converted Prussia into a constitutional monarchy and acquired the port of Wilhelmshaven in the Jade Treaty of 1853.[4]

From 1857 to 1861, he suffered several strokes and was left incapacitated until his death. His brother (and heir-presumptive) Wilhelm served as regent after 1858 and then succeeded him as King.

Early life

 
Portrait of Crown Prince Frederick William, c. 1810

Born to Frederick William III by his wife Queen Louise, he was her favourite son.[3] Frederick William was educated by private tutors, many of whom were experienced civil servants, such as Friedrich Ancillon.[3] He also gained military experience by serving in the Prussian Army during the War of Liberation against Napoleon in 1814, although he was an indifferent soldier. He was a draftsman interested in both architecture and landscape gardening and was a patron of several great German artists, including architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel and composer Felix Mendelssohn. In 1823 he married Elisabeth Ludovika of Bavaria. Since she was a Roman Catholic, the preparations for this marriage included difficult negotiations which ended with her conversion to Lutheranism. There were two wedding ceremonies—one in Munich, and another in Berlin. The couple had a very harmonious marriage, but, after a single miscarriage in 1828,[5] it remained childless.[6]

Frederick William was a staunch Romanticist, and his devotion to this movement, which in the German States featured nostalgia for the Middle Ages, was largely responsible for his developing into a conservative at an early age. In 1815, when he was only twenty, the crown prince exerted his influence to structure the proposed new constitution of 1815, which was never actually enacted, in such a way that the landed aristocracy would hold the greatest power. He was firmly against the liberalization of Germany and only aspired to unify its many states within what he viewed as a historically legitimate framework, inspired by the ancient laws and customs of the recently dissolved Holy Roman Empire. Frederick William opposed the idea of a unified German state, believing that Austria was divinely ordained to rule over Germany,[citation needed] and contented himself with the title of "Grand General of the Realm".

Reign

Early reign

 
Portrait of Frederick William IV, by George Hayter, c. 1843

Frederick William became King of Prussia on the death of his father in 1840. Through a personal union, he also became the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel (1840–1857), today part of Switzerland. In 1842, he gave his father's menagerie at Pfaueninsel to the new Berlin Zoo, which opened its gates in 1844 as the first of its kind in Germany. Other projects during his reign—often involving his close collaboration with the architects—included the Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery) and the Neues Museum in Berlin, the Orangerieschloss at Potsdam as well as the reconstruction of Schloss Stolzenfels on the Rhine (Prussian since 1815) and Burg Hohenzollern, in the ancestral homelands of the dynasty which became part of Prussia in 1850.[6] He also enlarged and redecorated his father's Erdmannsdorf manor house.

Although a staunch conservative, Frederick William did not seek to be a despot, and so he toned down the reactionary policies pursued by his father, easing press censorship and promising to enact a constitution at some point, but he refused to create an elected legislative assembly, preferring to work with the nobility through "united committees" of the provincial estates. When he finally called a national assembly in 1847, it was not a representative body, but rather a United Diet comprising all the provincial estates, which had the right to levy taxes and take out loans, but no right to meet at regular intervals.

 
Prussian coin minted during the reign of Frederick William IV, c. 1842

Despite being a devout Calvinist, his Romantic leanings led him to settle the Cologne church conflict by releasing the imprisoned Clemens August von Droste-Vischering, the Archbishop of Cologne. He also patronized further construction of Cologne Cathedral, Cologne having become part of Prussia in 1815. In 1844, he attended the celebrations marking the completion of the cathedral, becoming the first King of Prussia to enter a Roman Catholic house of worship.

In 1842, on advice of Alexander von Humboldt, he founded the separate civil class of the Pour le Merite, the Order Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts (Orden Pour le Mérite für Wissenschaften und Künste). Said civil order is still being awarded today.

Revolutions of 1848

 
Caricature of Frederick William IV titled, “There should be no piece of paper between me and my people!”, referring to the constitution written by the liberal government. c. 1848-49

When revolution broke out in Prussia in March 1848, part of the larger series of Revolutions of 1848, the king initially moved to repress it with the army, but on 19 March he decided to recall the troops and place himself at the head of the movement. He committed himself to German unification, formed a liberal government, convened a national assembly, and ordered that a constitution be drawn up. Once his position was more secure, however, he quickly had the army reoccupy Berlin and in December dissolved the assembly.

He did, however, remain dedicated to unification for a time, leading the Frankfurt Parliament to offer him the crown of Germany on 3 April 1849, which he refused, purportedly saying that he would not accept a "crown from the gutter" (German: "Krone aus der Gosse"). The King's refusal was rooted in his Romantic aspiration to re-establish the medieval Holy Roman Empire, comprising smaller, semi-sovereign monarchies under the limited authority of a Habsburg emperor.

 
With the imperial crown offered to him by the parliamentarians of the Frankfurt National Assembly in hand, Prussian king Frederick William IV decides whether or not to accept it by counting off the buttons on his jacket: "Should I take it? Should I not? Should I?! Buttons, you want me to! Well, that's exactly why I won't!!", c. 1849

Therefore, Frederick William would only accept the imperial crown after being elected by the German princes, as per the former empire's ancient customs.[7] He expressed this sentiment in a letter to his sister the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia, in which he said the Frankfurt Parliament had overlooked that "in order to give, you would first of all have to be in possession of something that can be given."[8] In the king's eyes, only a reconstituted College of Electors could possess such authority.[9]

With the failed attempt by the Frankfurt Parliament to include the Habsburgs in a newly unified German Empire, the Parliament turned to Prussia. Seeing Austrian ambivalence towards Prussia taking a more powerful role in German affairs, Frederick William began considering a Prussian-led union. All German states, excluding those of the Habsburgs, would be unified under Hohenzollern authority, and these two polities would be linked in an overarching political framework.[10] Frederick William, therefore, did attempt to establish the Erfurt Union, a union of the German states except for Austria, but abandoned the idea by the Punctation of Olmütz on 29 November 1850, in the face of renewed Austrian and Russian resistance. The German Confederation remained the common government of German Europe.

Later years and death

Silver Coin of Frederick William IV, struck 1860
 
Obverse (German): FRIEDR[ICH] WILHELM IV KOENIG V[ON] PREUSSEN, or in English, "Frederick William IV, King of Prussia" Reverse (German): EIN VEREINSTHALER XXX EIN PFUND FEIN 1860, or in English, "One Double Thaler 30 to the Fine Pound"

Rather than returning to bureaucratic rule after dismissing the Prussian National Assembly, Frederick William unilaterally imposed the Constitution of 1848 based on the "Charte Waldeck" that the Assembly had drawn up. The first Parliament of Prussia then modified the constitution with the King's cooperation, and on 31 January 1850, the Constitution of 1850 was promulgated.[11] The Parliament had two chambers – an aristocratic upper house and a lower house elected by all male Prussians over 25 years of age using a three-tiered system that weighted votes based on the amount of taxes paid,[12] with the result that the wealthy had far more influence than the poor. The constitution reserved to the king the power of appointing all ministers, re-established the conservative district assemblies and provincial diets, and guaranteed that the civil service and the military remained firmly under control of the king. It also contained a number of liberal elements such as jury courts and a catalog of fundamental rights that included freedom of religion, speech and the press.[13] It was a more liberal system than had existed in Prussia before 1848, but it was still a conservative form of government in which the monarch, the aristocracy, and the military retained most of the power. The constitution of 1850 remained in effect, with numerous amendments, until the dissolution of the Prussian kingdom in 1918.

Following the revolutions of 1848, the increasingly gloomy king withdrew from the public eye, surrounding himself with advisers who preached absolute orthodoxy and conservatism in religious and political matters. A series of strokes from 14 July 1857 onward left the king partially paralyzed and largely mentally incapacitated, and his brother (and heir-presumptive) William served as regent after 7 October 1858.

 
The crypt containing the sarcophagi of Frederick William IV and his wife Elisabeth Ludovika of Bavaria in the Church of Peace, Sanssouci Park in Potsdam

On 24 November 1859, the king suffered a stroke that left him paralyzed on the left side. He was driven around in a wheelchair from then on. On 4 November 1860, he lost consciousness after another stroke. One more stroke resulted in the king's death at Sanssouci palace on 2 January 1861, at which point the regent acceded to the throne as William I of Prussia.

In accordance with his testamentary instructions from 1854, Frederick William IV is interred with his wife in the crypt underneath the Church of Peace in the park of Sanssouci, at Potsdam, while his heart was removed from his body and buried alongside his parents at the Charlottenburg Palace mausoleum.[6]

Religion

He was a Calvinist member of the Evangelical State Church of Prussia, a United Protestant denomination that brought together Reformed and Lutheran believers.

Honours

German decorations[14]
Foreign decorations[14]

Ancestry

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Dorgerloh, Hartmut, ed. (18 August 2011). (PDF). Palaces and Gardens. Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg. p. 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 October 2010. Retrieved 10 January 2012. The Church of Peace was built from 1845– 54, based upon Italian models. King Frederick William IV and Queen Elisabeth were laid to rest here.
  2. ^ Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg, (Hartmut Dorgerloh, ed) (1992–2012). "König Friedrich Wilhelm IV". Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany: Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kultur des Landes Brandenburg. Retrieved 10 January 2012. Begräbnisstätte: Friedenskirche im Park von Sanssouci; das Herz im Mausoleum im Park von Schloss Charlottenburg in Berlin[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ a b c Koch 2014, p. 227.
  4. ^ David Barclay, Frederick William IV and the Prussian Monarchy 1840–1862 (Oxford, 1995).
  5. ^ Letzner, Wolfram (2016). Berlin – eine Biografie. Menschen und Schicksale von den Askaniern bis Helmut Kohl und zur Hauptstadt Deutschlands (German). Nünnerich Asmus, Mainz. ISBN 978-3-945751-37-4.
  6. ^ a b c Feldhahn, Ulrich (2011). Die preußischen Könige und Kaiser (German). Kunstverlag Josef Fink, Lindenberg. pp. 21–23. ISBN 978-3-89870-615-5.
  7. ^ Clark, Christopher (2006). Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600–1947. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. pp. 490. ISBN 9780674023857.
  8. ^ Ibid. p. 494.
  9. ^ Ibid. p. 490.
  10. ^ Ibid. 495.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  11. ^ Robinson, James Harvey (September 1894). "The Constitution of the Kingdom of Prussia". Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science: 13–14.
  12. ^ Peter, Jelena (1 February 2000). "Das Preußische Dreiklassenwahlrecht" [The Prussian Three-Class Franchise]. Deutsches Historisches Museum]. Deutsches Historisches Museum (in German). Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  13. ^ Constitution of the Kingdom of Prussia  – via Wikisource.
  14. ^ a b Preußen (1839), "Königliches Haus", Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreichs Preußen (in German), Berlin, p. 3, retrieved 11 March 2020
  15. ^ Liste der Ritter des Königlich Preußischen Hohen Ordens vom Schwarzen Adler (1851), "Von Seiner Majestät dem Könige Friedrich Wilhelm III. ernannte Ritter" p. 15
  16. ^ Anhalt-Köthen (1851). Staats- und Adreß-Handbuch für die Herzogthümer Anhalt-Dessau und Anhalt-Köthen: 1851. Katz. p. 10.
  17. ^ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Großherzogtum Baden (1838), "Großherzogliche Orden" pp. 28, 42
  18. ^ Bayern (1858). Hof- und Staatshandbuch des Königreichs Bayern: 1858. Landesamt. p. 7.
  19. ^ Braunschweigisches Adreßbuch für das Jahr 1858. Braunschweig 1858. Meyer. p. 5
  20. ^ "Herzogliche Sachsen-Ernestinischer Hausorden", Adreß-Handbuch des Herzogthums Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha (in German), Coburg, Gotha: Meusel, 1843, p. 6, retrieved 12 March 2020
  21. ^ Hof- und Staatshandbuch für das Königreich Hannover: 1837. Berenberg. 1837. p. 20.
  22. ^ Staat Hannover (1857). Hof- und Staatshandbuch für das Königreich Hannover: 1857. Berenberg. p. 32.
  23. ^ Hessen-Darmstadt (1858), "Großherzogliche Orden und Ehrenzeichen", Hof- und Staatshandbuch des Großherzogtums Hessen: für das Jahr ... 1858 (in German), Darmstadt, p. 8, retrieved 12 March 2020
  24. ^ Hessen-Kassel (1858). Kurfürstlich Hessisches Hof- und Staatshandbuch: 1858. Waisenhaus. p. 15.
  25. ^ Hof- und Adreß-Handbuch des Fürstenthums Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen: 1844. Beck und Fränkel. 1844. p. 19.
  26. ^ Staats- und Adreß-Handbuch des Herzogthums Nassau: 1860. Schellenberg. 1860. p. 7.
  27. ^ Staat Oldenburg (1858). Hof- und Staatshandbuch des Großherzogtums Oldenburg: für ... 1858. Schulze. p. 30.
  28. ^ "Großherzoglicher Hausorden", Staatshandbuch für das Großherzogtum Sachsen / Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach (in German), Weimar: Böhlau, 1855, p. 10, retrieved 11 March 2020
  29. ^ Sachsen (1860). Staatshandbuch für den Freistaat Sachsen: 1860. Heinrich. p. 4.
  30. ^ Württemberg (1858). Königlich-Württembergisches Hof- und Staats-Handbuch: 1858. Guttenberg. p. 30.
  31. ^ "A Szent István Rend tagjai" 22 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  32. ^ H. Tarlier (1854). Almanach royal officiel, publié, exécution d'un arrête du roi (in French). Vol. 1. p. 37.
  33. ^ Kongelig Dansk Hof-og Statscalender Statshaandbog for det danske Monarchie for Aaret 1860, p.27 (in Danish). Retrieved 12 March 2020
  34. ^ Teulet, Alexandre (1863). "Liste chronologique des chevaliers de l'ordre du Saint-Esprit depuis son origine jusqu'à son extinction (1578–1830)" [Chronological List of Knights of the Order of the Holy Spirit from its origin to its extinction (1578–1830)]. Annuaire-bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de France (in French) (2): 117. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  35. ^ M. & B. Wattel (2009). Les Grand'Croix de la Légion d'honneur de 1805 à nos jours. Titulaires français et étrangers. Paris: Archives & Culture. p. 509. ISBN 978-2-35077-135-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  36. ^ Militaire Willems-Orde: Preussen, Friederich Wilhelm IV von, (in Dutch)
  37. ^ Almanacco di corte. 1858. p. 221.
  38. ^ Kawalerowie i statuty Orderu Orła Białego 1705–2008 (2008), p. 289
  39. ^ Luigi Cibrario (1869). Notizia storica del nobilissimo ordine supremo della santissima Annunziata. Sunto degli statuti, catalogo dei cavalieri. Eredi Botta. p. 111.
  40. ^ "Caballeros existentes en la insignie Orden del Toison de Oro". Guía de forasteros en Madrid para el año de 1835 (in Spanish). En la Imprenta Nacional. 1835. p. 72.
  41. ^ Per Nordenvall (1998). "Kungl. Maj:ts Orden". Kungliga Serafimerorden: 1748–1998 (in Swedish). Stockholm. ISBN 91-630-6744-7.
  42. ^ Shaw, Wm. A. (1906) The Knights of England, I, London, p. 56

References

  • Barclay, David E.,Frederick William IV and the Prussian Monarchy 1840–1862, (Oxford, 1995).
  • Clark, Christopher. Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600–1947, by, (Harvard University Press, 2006).
  • Koch, H.W. (2014). A History of Prussia. Routledge. ISBN 978-1317873082.
  • Sheehan, James J. "Frederick William IV and the Prussian Monarchy: 1840-1861." English Historical Review 112.449 (1997): 1312–1314.

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Friedrich Wilhelm IV. von Preußen.
Frederick William IV of Prussia
Born: 15 October 1795 Died: 2 January 1861
Regnal titles
Preceded by King of Prussia
7 June 1840 – 2 January 1861 		Succeeded by
Grand Duke of Posen
7 June 1840 – 5 December 1848 		Annexed to Prussia
Prince of Neuchâtel
7 June 1840 – 1857 		Neuchâtel Crisis

May 02, 2023
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Wikipedia Translation Frederick William IV German Friedrich Wilhelm IV 15 October 1795 3 2 January 1861 the eldest son and successor of Frederick William III of Prussia reigned as King of Prussia from 7 June 1840 to his death on 2 January 1861 Also referred to as the romanticist on the throne he is best remembered for the many buildings he had constructed in Berlin and Potsdam as well as for the completion of the Gothic Cologne Cathedral Frederick Wilhelm IVFrederick Wilhelm IV in 1847King of PrussiaReign7 June 1840 2 January 1861PredecessorFrederick William IIISuccessorWilliam IRegentPrince William 1858 1861 President of the Erfurt UnionReign26 May 1849 29 November 1850Born15 October 1795Kronprinzenpalais Berlin Kingdom of PrussiaDied2 January 1861 aged 65 Sanssouci Potsdam Kingdom of PrussiaBurialCrypt of the Friedenskirche Sanssouci Park Potsdam 1 Heart in the Mausoleum at Charlottenburg Palace Berlin 2 SpouseElisabeth Ludovika of BavariaHouseHohenzollernFatherFrederick William III of PrussiaMotherLouise of Mecklenburg StrelitzReligionCalvinist Prussian United SignatureIn politics he was a conservative who initially pursued a moderate policy of easing press censorship and reconciling with the Catholic population of the kingdom During the German revolutions of 1848 1849 he at first accommodated the revolutionaries but rejected the title of Emperor of the Germans offered by the Frankfurt Parliament in 1849 believing that Parliament did not have the right to make such an offer He used military force to crush the revolutionaries throughout the German Confederation From 1849 onward he converted Prussia into a constitutional monarchy and acquired the port of Wilhelmshaven in the Jade Treaty of 1853 4 From 1857 to 1861 he suffered several strokes and was left incapacitated until his death His brother and heir presumptive Wilhelm served as regent after 1858 and then succeeded him as King Contents 1 Early life 2 Reign 2 1 Early reign 2 2 Revolutions of 1848 2 3 Later years and death 3 Religion 4 Honours 5 Ancestry 6 See also 7 Notes 8 References 9 External linksEarly life Edit Portrait of Crown Prince Frederick William c 1810 Born to Frederick William III by his wife Queen Louise he was her favourite son 3 Frederick William was educated by private tutors many of whom were experienced civil servants such as Friedrich Ancillon 3 He also gained military experience by serving in the Prussian Army during the War of Liberation against Napoleon in 1814 although he was an indifferent soldier He was a draftsman interested in both architecture and landscape gardening and was a patron of several great German artists including architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel and composer Felix Mendelssohn In 1823 he married Elisabeth Ludovika of Bavaria Since she was a Roman Catholic the preparations for this marriage included difficult negotiations which ended with her conversion to Lutheranism There were two wedding ceremonies one in Munich and another in Berlin The couple had a very harmonious marriage but after a single miscarriage in 1828 5 it remained childless 6 Frederick William was a staunch Romanticist and his devotion to this movement which in the German States featured nostalgia for the Middle Ages was largely responsible for his developing into a conservative at an early age In 1815 when he was only twenty the crown prince exerted his influence to structure the proposed new constitution of 1815 which was never actually enacted in such a way that the landed aristocracy would hold the greatest power He was firmly against the liberalization of Germany and only aspired to unify its many states within what he viewed as a historically legitimate framework inspired by the ancient laws and customs of the recently dissolved Holy Roman Empire Frederick William opposed the idea of a unified German state believing that Austria was divinely ordained to rule over Germany citation needed and contented himself with the title of Grand General of the Realm Reign EditEarly reign Edit Portrait of Frederick William IV by George Hayter c 1843 Frederick William became King of Prussia on the death of his father in 1840 Through a personal union he also became the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchatel 1840 1857 today part of Switzerland In 1842 he gave his father s menagerie at Pfaueninsel to the new Berlin Zoo which opened its gates in 1844 as the first of its kind in Germany Other projects during his reign often involving his close collaboration with the architects included the Alte Nationalgalerie Old National Gallery and the Neues Museum in Berlin the Orangerieschloss at Potsdam as well as the reconstruction of Schloss Stolzenfels on the Rhine Prussian since 1815 and Burg Hohenzollern in the ancestral homelands of the dynasty which became part of Prussia in 1850 6 He also enlarged and redecorated his father s Erdmannsdorf manor house Although a staunch conservative Frederick William did not seek to be a despot and so he toned down the reactionary policies pursued by his father easing press censorship and promising to enact a constitution at some point but he refused to create an elected legislative assembly preferring to work with the nobility through united committees of the provincial estates When he finally called a national assembly in 1847 it was not a representative body but rather a United Diet comprising all the provincial estates which had the right to levy taxes and take out loans but no right to meet at regular intervals Prussian coin minted during the reign of Frederick William IV c 1842 Despite being a devout Calvinist his Romantic leanings led him to settle the Cologne church conflict by releasing the imprisoned Clemens August von Droste Vischering the Archbishop of Cologne He also patronized further construction of Cologne Cathedral Cologne having become part of Prussia in 1815 In 1844 he attended the celebrations marking the completion of the cathedral becoming the first King of Prussia to enter a Roman Catholic house of worship In 1842 on advice of Alexander von Humboldt he founded the separate civil class of the Pour le Merite the Order Pour le Merite for Sciences and Arts Orden Pour le Merite fur Wissenschaften und Kunste Said civil order is still being awarded today Revolutions of 1848 Edit Caricature of Frederick William IV titled There should be no piece of paper between me and my people referring to the constitution written by the liberal government c 1848 49 When revolution broke out in Prussia in March 1848 part of the larger series of Revolutions of 1848 the king initially moved to repress it with the army but on 19 March he decided to recall the troops and place himself at the head of the movement He committed himself to German unification formed a liberal government convened a national assembly and ordered that a constitution be drawn up Once his position was more secure however he quickly had the army reoccupy Berlin and in December dissolved the assembly He did however remain dedicated to unification for a time leading the Frankfurt Parliament to offer him the crown of Germany on 3 April 1849 which he refused purportedly saying that he would not accept a crown from the gutter German Krone aus der Gosse The King s refusal was rooted in his Romantic aspiration to re establish the medieval Holy Roman Empire comprising smaller semi sovereign monarchies under the limited authority of a Habsburg emperor With the imperial crown offered to him by the parliamentarians of the Frankfurt National Assembly in hand Prussian king Frederick William IV decides whether or not to accept it by counting off the buttons on his jacket Should I take it Should I not Should I Buttons you want me to Well that s exactly why I won t c 1849Therefore Frederick William would only accept the imperial crown after being elected by the German princes as per the former empire s ancient customs 7 He expressed this sentiment in a letter to his sister the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia in which he said the Frankfurt Parliament had overlooked that in order to give you would first of all have to be in possession of something that can be given 8 In the king s eyes only a reconstituted College of Electors could possess such authority 9 With the failed attempt by the Frankfurt Parliament to include the Habsburgs in a newly unified German Empire the Parliament turned to Prussia Seeing Austrian ambivalence towards Prussia taking a more powerful role in German affairs Frederick William began considering a Prussian led union All German states excluding those of the Habsburgs would be unified under Hohenzollern authority and these two polities would be linked in an overarching political framework 10 Frederick William therefore did attempt to establish the Erfurt Union a union of the German states except for Austria but abandoned the idea by the Punctation of Olmutz on 29 November 1850 in the face of renewed Austrian and Russian resistance The German Confederation remained the common government of German Europe Later years and death Edit Silver Coin of Frederick William IV struck 1860 Obverse German FRIEDR ICH WILHELM IV KOENIG V ON PREUSSEN or in English Frederick William IV King of Prussia Reverse German EIN VEREINSTHALER XXX EIN PFUND FEIN 1860 or in English One Double Thaler 30 to the Fine Pound Rather than returning to bureaucratic rule after dismissing the Prussian National Assembly Frederick William unilaterally imposed the Constitution of 1848 based on the Charte Waldeck that the Assembly had drawn up The first Parliament of Prussia then modified the constitution with the King s cooperation and on 31 January 1850 the Constitution of 1850 was promulgated 11 The Parliament had two chambers an aristocratic upper house and a lower house elected by all male Prussians over 25 years of age using a three tiered system that weighted votes based on the amount of taxes paid 12 with the result that the wealthy had far more influence than the poor The constitution reserved to the king the power of appointing all ministers re established the conservative district assemblies and provincial diets and guaranteed that the civil service and the military remained firmly under control of the king It also contained a number of liberal elements such as jury courts and a catalog of fundamental rights that included freedom of religion speech and the press 13 It was a more liberal system than had existed in Prussia before 1848 but it was still a conservative form of government in which the monarch the aristocracy and the military retained most of the power The constitution of 1850 remained in effect with numerous amendments until the dissolution of the Prussian kingdom in 1918 Following the revolutions of 1848 the increasingly gloomy king withdrew from the public eye surrounding himself with advisers who preached absolute orthodoxy and conservatism in religious and political matters A series of strokes from 14 July 1857 onward left the king partially paralyzed and largely mentally incapacitated and his brother and heir presumptive William served as regent after 7 October 1858 The crypt containing the sarcophagi of Frederick William IV and his wife Elisabeth Ludovika of Bavaria in the Church of Peace Sanssouci Park in PotsdamOn 24 November 1859 the king suffered a stroke that left him paralyzed on the left side He was driven around in a wheelchair from then on On 4 November 1860 he lost consciousness after another stroke One more stroke resulted in the king s death at Sanssouci palace on 2 January 1861 at which point the regent acceded to the throne as William I of Prussia In accordance with his testamentary instructions from 1854 Frederick William IV is interred with his wife in the crypt underneath the Church of Peace in the park of Sanssouci at Potsdam while his heart was removed from his body and buried alongside his parents at the Charlottenburg Palace mausoleum 6 Religion EditHe was a Calvinist member of the Evangelical State Church of Prussia a United Protestant denomination that brought together Reformed and Lutheran believers Honours EditGerman decorations 14 Prussia Knight of the Black Eagle 15 October 1805 15 Iron Cross 2nd Class Service Award Cross Ascanian duchies Grand Cross of Albert the Bear 18 May 1838 16 Baden 17 Grand Cross of the House Order of Fidelity 1830 Grand Cross of the Zahringer Lion 1830 Bavaria Knight of St Hubert 1823 18 Brunswick Grand Cross of Henry the Lion 19 Ernestine duchies Grand Cross of the Saxe Ernestine House Order October 1838 20 Hanover Grand Cross of the Royal Guelphic Order 1826 21 Knight of St George 1839 22 Hesse and by Rhine Grand Cross of the Ludwig Order 11 April 1830 23 Hesse Kassel Grand Cross of the Golden Lion 5 September 1841 24 Hohenzollern Cross of Honour of the Princely House Order of Hohenzollern 1st Class 25 Nassau Knight of the Gold Lion of Nassau May 1858 26 Oldenburg Grand Cross of the Order of Duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig with Golden Crown 8 October 1843 27 Saxe Weimar Eisenach Grand Cross of the White Falcon 16 February 1829 28 Saxony Knight of the Rue Crown 1839 29 Wurttemberg Grand Cross of the Civil Merit Order 1818 30 Foreign decorations 14 Austrian Empire Grand Cross of St Stephen 1833 31 Belgium Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold 18 January 1850 32 Denmark Knight of the Elephant 19 January 1840 33 France Kingdom of France 34 Knight of the Holy Spirit 5 February 1824 Knight of St Michael 5 February 1824 French Empire Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour November 1856 35 Kingdom of Greece Grand Cross of the Redeemer Netherlands Grand Cross of the Military William Order 9 February 1842 36 Grand Cross of the Netherlands Lion Duchy of Parma Senator Grand Cross of the Constantinian Order of St George with Collar 1856 37 Russian Empire Knight of St Andrew 15 September 1801 Knight of St George 4th Class Kingdom of Poland Knight of the White Eagle 1829 38 Kingdom of Sardinia Knight of the Annunciation 9 October 1847 39 Spain Knight of the Golden Fleece 10 February 1818 40 Sweden Knight of the Seraphim 29 August 1811 41 Two Sicilies Knight of St Januarius Grand Cross of St Ferdinand and Merit United Kingdom Knight of the Garter 25 January 1842 42 Ancestry EditAncestors of Frederick William IV of Prussia8 Prince Augustus William of Prussia4 Frederick William II of Prussia9 Duchess Luise of Brunswick Wolfenbuttel2 Frederick William III of Prussia10 Louis IX Landgrave of Hesse Darmstadt5 Princess Frederica Louisa of Hesse Darmstadt11 Countess Palatine Caroline of Zweibrucken1 Frederick William IV of Prussia12 Duke Charles Louis Frederick of Mecklenburg Strelitz6 Charles II Grand Duke of Mecklenburg Strelitz13 Princess Elisabeth Albertine of Saxe Hildburghausen3 Duchess Louise of Mecklenburg Strelitz14 Prince George William of Hesse Darmstadt7 Princess Friederike of Hesse Darmstadt15 Countess Maria Louise Albertine of Leiningen Dagsburg FalkenburgSee also EditEquestrian statue of Frederick William IVNotes Edit Dorgerloh Hartmut ed 18 August 2011 Palaces and Gardens in Potsdam 18 Church of Peace PDF Palaces and Gardens Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin Brandenburg p 4 Archived from the original PDF on 11 October 2010 Retrieved 10 January 2012 The Church of Peace was built from 1845 54 based upon Italian models King Frederick William IV and Queen Elisabeth were laid to rest here Stiftung Preussische Schlosser und Garten Berlin Brandenburg Hartmut Dorgerloh ed 1992 2012 Konig Friedrich Wilhelm IV Potsdam Brandenburg Germany Ministerium fur Wissenschaft Forschung und Kultur des Landes Brandenburg Retrieved 10 January 2012 Begrabnisstatte Friedenskirche im Park von Sanssouci das Herz im Mausoleum im Park von Schloss Charlottenburg in Berlin permanent dead link a b c Koch 2014 p 227 David Barclay Frederick William IV and the Prussian Monarchy 1840 1862 Oxford 1995 Letzner Wolfram 2016 Berlin eine Biografie Menschen und Schicksale von den Askaniern bis Helmut Kohl und zur Hauptstadt Deutschlands German Nunnerich Asmus Mainz ISBN 978 3 945751 37 4 a b c Feldhahn Ulrich 2011 Die preussischen Konige und Kaiser German Kunstverlag Josef Fink Lindenberg pp 21 23 ISBN 978 3 89870 615 5 Clark Christopher 2006 Iron Kingdom The Rise and Downfall of Prussia 1600 1947 Cambridge Massachusetts Belknap Press of Harvard University Press pp 490 ISBN 9780674023857 Ibid p 494 Ibid p 490 Ibid 495 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint location link Robinson James Harvey September 1894 The Constitution of the Kingdom of Prussia Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 13 14 Peter Jelena 1 February 2000 Das Preussische Dreiklassenwahlrecht The Prussian Three Class Franchise Deutsches Historisches Museum Deutsches Historisches Museum in German Retrieved 3 April 2023 Constitution of the Kingdom of Prussia via Wikisource a b Preussen 1839 Konigliches Haus Hof und Staats Handbuch des Konigreichs Preussen in German Berlin p 3 retrieved 11 March 2020 Liste der Ritter des Koniglich Preussischen Hohen Ordens vom Schwarzen Adler 1851 Von Seiner Majestat dem Konige Friedrich Wilhelm III ernannte Ritter p 15 Anhalt Kothen 1851 Staats und Adress Handbuch fur die Herzogthumer Anhalt Dessau und Anhalt Kothen 1851 Katz p 10 Hof und Staats Handbuch des Grossherzogtum Baden 1838 Grossherzogliche Orden pp 28 42 Bayern 1858 Hof und Staatshandbuch des Konigreichs Bayern 1858 Landesamt p 7 Braunschweigisches Adressbuch fur das Jahr 1858 Braunschweig 1858 Meyer p 5 Herzogliche Sachsen Ernestinischer Hausorden Adress Handbuch des Herzogthums Sachsen Coburg und Gotha in German Coburg Gotha Meusel 1843 p 6 retrieved 12 March 2020 Hof und Staatshandbuch fur das Konigreich Hannover 1837 Berenberg 1837 p 20 Staat Hannover 1857 Hof und Staatshandbuch fur das Konigreich Hannover 1857 Berenberg p 32 Hessen Darmstadt 1858 Grossherzogliche Orden und Ehrenzeichen Hof und Staatshandbuch des Grossherzogtums Hessen fur das Jahr 1858 in German Darmstadt p 8 retrieved 12 March 2020 Hessen Kassel 1858 Kurfurstlich Hessisches Hof und Staatshandbuch 1858 Waisenhaus p 15 Hof und Adress Handbuch des Furstenthums Hohenzollern Sigmaringen 1844 Beck und Frankel 1844 p 19 Staats und Adress Handbuch des Herzogthums Nassau 1860 Schellenberg 1860 p 7 Staat Oldenburg 1858 Hof und Staatshandbuch des Grossherzogtums Oldenburg fur 1858 Schulze p 30 Grossherzoglicher Hausorden Staatshandbuch fur das Grossherzogtum Sachsen Sachsen Weimar Eisenach in German Weimar Bohlau 1855 p 10 retrieved 11 March 2020 Sachsen 1860 Staatshandbuch fur den Freistaat Sachsen 1860 Heinrich p 4 Wurttemberg 1858 Koniglich Wurttembergisches Hof und Staats Handbuch 1858 Guttenberg p 30 A Szent Istvan Rend tagjai Archived 22 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine H Tarlier 1854 Almanach royal officiel publie execution d un arrete du roi in French Vol 1 p 37 Kongelig Dansk Hof og Statscalender Statshaandbog for det danske Monarchie for Aaret 1860 p 27 in Danish Retrieved 12 March 2020 Teulet Alexandre 1863 Liste chronologique des chevaliers de l ordre du Saint Esprit depuis son origine jusqu a son extinction 1578 1830 Chronological List of Knights of the Order of the Holy Spirit from its origin to its extinction 1578 1830 Annuaire bulletin de la Societe de l Histoire de France in French 2 117 Retrieved 24 March 2020 M amp B Wattel 2009 Les Grand Croix de la Legion d honneur de 1805 a nos jours Titulaires francais et etrangers Paris Archives amp Culture p 509 ISBN 978 2 35077 135 9 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint uses authors parameter link Militaire Willems Orde Preussen Friederich Wilhelm IV von in Dutch Almanacco di corte 1858 p 221 Kawalerowie i statuty Orderu Orla Bialego 1705 2008 2008 p 289 Luigi Cibrario 1869 Notizia storica del nobilissimo ordine supremo della santissima Annunziata Sunto degli statuti catalogo dei cavalieri Eredi Botta p 111 Caballeros existentes en la insignie Orden del Toison de Oro Guia de forasteros en Madrid para el ano de 1835 in Spanish En la Imprenta Nacional 1835 p 72 Per Nordenvall 1998 Kungl Maj ts Orden Kungliga Serafimerorden 1748 1998 in Swedish Stockholm ISBN 91 630 6744 7 Shaw Wm A 1906 The Knights of England I London p 56References EditBarclay David E Frederick William IV and the Prussian Monarchy 1840 1862 Oxford 1995 Clark Christopher Iron Kingdom The Rise and Downfall of Prussia 1600 1947 by Harvard University Press 2006 Koch H W 2014 A History of Prussia Routledge ISBN 978 1317873082 Sheehan James J Frederick William IV and the Prussian Monarchy 1840 1861 English Historical Review 112 449 1997 1312 1314 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Friedrich Wilhelm IV von Preussen Texts on Wikisource Frederick William IV of Prussia Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th ed 1911 Frederick William IV New International Encyclopedia 1905 Frederick William IV of PrussiaHouse of HohenzollernBorn 15 October 1795 Died 2 January 1861Regnal titlesPreceded byFrederick William III King of Prussia7 June 1840 2 January 1861 Succeeded byWilliam IGrand Duke of Posen7 June 1840 5 December 1848 Annexed to PrussiaPrince of Neuchatel7 June 1840 1857 Neuchatel Crisis Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Frederick William IV of Prussia amp oldid 1147990974, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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